[Editor’s Note: This piece is written by guest blogger R. Clayton Strang, author at RedState and Life of the Party. Strang is an activist and abolitionist in the fight against abortion. Victory Girls has decided to publish this piece from a guest male blogger because it’s important information that should make every pro-life conservative think very hard. Are you really pro-life? Are you really looking to end abortion? Then why are we compromising so much? — Kit]
What is the purpose of the pro life movement? If one were to ask liberal groups in both the Republican and Democrat Parties they would probably say that the purpose is to take away a woman’s right to control her own body. Conservatives who consider themselves pro-life might say that the pro-life movement exists to end legalized abortion; I certainly grew up thinking that that was the case, but it’s starting to seem as though I was either mistaken or the pro-life movement has forgotten itself.
I have, along with countless others, have covered some of these issues before (see here and here), so I’ll do my best to keep this brief.
The pro-life movement’s biggest claim to fame these days is not their opposition to the existence of abortion, but their opposition to the legality of certain types of abortions: Partial birth abortion is bad (clearly, right?), abortions after the pre-born baby can feel pain should be banned, abortions after a certain arbitrary time such as 20 weeks of development should be ended they say. We’re told that abortions via internet, so-called “telemedicine abortions,” need to be ended. The pro-life movement would like the paid assassins that they call “doctors” to have admitting privileges at local hospitals, and we absolutely need to be sure that these “clinics” are clean, because we need to protect the life of the mother-turned-murderer.
Let’s tackle that last one first, shall we? Abortion clinics should have strict cleanliness standards. Really? That’s the stand you want to take? Why? So that the intended mother-turned-murderer can feel like she’s undergoing a real medical procedure? So she can be nice and safe from infection while her little helpless, innocent child is burned, ripped, crushed or vacuumed until he or she is dead? How pointless! How about replacing it with this: Abortion clinics should be illegal. Doesn’t that make more sense?
As for banning certain types of abortions, I think that we agree: partial birth abortions, abortions after 20 weeks, abortions after a baby can feel pain are all bad, but they’re no worse than any other abortion that is currently legal and that the pro-life movement currently ignores. The hypocrisy is shocking, isn’t it? A baby that’s been allowed to develop, safe inside her mother, for 20 weeks is worth more than the one that’s only developed for 19 weeks and 6 days. We’re told that the goal is to “save lives.” Wrong. The goal is to end abortion; to change the culture; to give all humans equal protection under the law!
To really see how the pro-life movement has neutered itself, look no further than this recent article from LifeNews.com by Jennie Stone, “Hey Pro-Lifers: Six Things NOT to Do To End Abortion.” In this article, Stone outlines the things that she believes are harmful to the pro-life cause including: “Using inflammatory language,” “Judging abortion-minded women” and “Hating clinic workers,” and “Fighting amongst ourselves.” You see, the pro-life movement doesn’t want you to think of abortion as murder, Stone even says as much. She says that using words like “murder” and “abortion mill” does “nothing to educate others” and that those who do so may be “just plain cruel.” We’re told by Stone that we must have unity, and anything that disrupts this unity should be cast aside. (For my Republican friends, this cry for “unity” at any cost should sound sickeningly familiar.) She continues:
“Groups like Secular Pro-Life (you can find them on Facebook) consist of people “from atheists to Zoroastrians” and bring together pro-lifers of all faiths, or none at all. This is what true pro-life unity is all about. It’s perfectly fine to be motivated by your faith to put an end to abortion, but when it causes division, it’s time to take a step back and figure out how to get along.”
If Jesus gets in the way of the goals the pro-life movement, He must move out of the way. Do you fight abortion because of your belief in Jesus and your correct understanding of the Gospel? Fine, now sit at the back of the bus.
Stone implores us to speak up against abortion, just so long as you don’t tell the truth about it, are willing to go along to get along and keep your Jesus to yourself.
I don’t want you to misunderstand me, LifeNews.com has done and continues to do some great work, and by and large, their articles are informative and useful. This article, however, clearly demonstrates why the pro-life movement has become impotent. The implication that if you think that abortion is murder, and are willing to say so makes you “hateful” is absurd!
Is it unloving to tell a woman who is about to or who has in the past had an abortion, that what she’s doing or has done is, in fact, murder? What could be more loving that to tell her the truth? Think about this analogy: You see someone about to step right in front of a train: Is it the loving thing to do to whisper quietly “Um, excuse me, Miss? There’s some sort of noise coming from down these tracks.” If we truly love our neighbor, we shout “Stop! Come back! There’s a train! STOP!” The same could be said about those who work at these killing centers that Stone apparently wants us to call “clinics” (which only legitimizes their existence, by the way). I would argue that it is, instead, unloving to willfully hide the truth from these individuals.
If you call yourself “pro-life”, you should examine what your goals are. Do you want to tell the truth, preach the Gospel and enter in to the war with our culture to end abortion and the mindset that allows it? Or do you want to just “love” everyone, make everyone feel good about what they do, and simply limit what types of abortion are legal? Wake up, pro-lifer! Stop trying to be politically correct and start telling the truth.
On May 9th of this year, Dr. John Bruchalski, a former abortionist turned pro-life activist, gave a lecture at the University of Washington as a guest of the UW Students for Life and he closed his talk with something that is profound. He said “I don’t blame the other side for the abortion problem, I blame us. I blame me. We don’t do enough.” He’s absolutely right. Evil will always, always exist, until Christ returns, or calls us home, that’s reality. That’d doesn’t mean that we give up and simply try to manage the evil. It doesn’t mean that we coddle it. It certainly doesn’t mean that we pretend that it’s anything other than evil. It does mean that we dig in, and fight back by unashamedly telling the truth about what the evil is and what it looks like. And we never, ever put Christ second to the cause of mere men. Unless we’re willing to do that, abortion will never end.
A//∀
Catherine says: Truth. Thank you for writing such a great, great post that every “pro” life advocate needs to read. For too long, too much emphasize has been on “how” to engage the abortion industry and their supporters. We ended up playing by their rules and using their language and measuring pregnancy and life by their terms. And lost sight of the truth. The simple truth.
Kit says: One more thing…pro-lifers can’t defend their position. They don’t know how. “Because its wrong” won’t convince anyone. Yelling at them won’t matter. And if you can’t defend your position in a coherent, logical, concise matter that ends the debate without resorting to name calling, you’re never going to make a difference at all.
Kate says: THIS. ^^^
Lindy says: Double THIS. ^^^
This post is spot-on, pure and true, full-blown abolitionism!
Very well argued and stated. More important than that… Clayton is right.
Crazy as it sounds… We must put an end to the prolife movement in order to Abolish Human Abortion.
T. Russell Hunter A//∀
ALman says: “Or do you want to just “love” everyone, make everyone feel good about what they do, and simply limit what types of abortion are legal?” Substitute “abortion are legal” with “sin they commit”. Thus, “Do you want to just ‘love’ everyone, make everyone feel good about what they do, and simply limit what types of sin they commit?” In this question you have, I think, the crux of what is before all the faith traditions of the Judaeo-Christian heritage. The majority of the followers of these would respond “yes, yes, this is what we want.”
They would argue that to call sin by its name is “to be judgmental and condemning. Besides, how are we going to attract members to our church?” Moreover, they would think of evil as that which doesn’t conform to their political-correctness. It’s silly and archaic to believe in a personal god. Worse yet to believe in a personification of evil, e.g. Satan. Consequently, that which was foundational in our society, our religious heritage, has become compromised, or marginalized, or has simply disappeared. Moreover, on various fronts, there is the promotion of Islam over Judaism and Christianity.
We have become a country considerably lacking in our morals and ethics. In many ways, we have become spiritually “bankrupt” when it comes to the Divine and Holy. We worship at the altar of our science and technology with “our rights” being the “communion” that is shared. The politicians are the “pastors or priests” who bring to us the message we want to hear. And, even many of those who have the designation of “clergy” are more interested in not “rocking the boat” than to speak with authority, conviction, and firm belief that God’s Word is just that and not their’s to manipulate as they see fit.
Forgive my rather circuitous path in getting to you other question: “Do you want to tell the truth, preach the Gospel and enter into the war with our culture to end abortion and the mindset that allows it?” Those who would respond “yes” will need immense faith and conviction, because they will be as ones “crying in the wilderness.” They will need encouragement and support, because our culture is mostly hostile to anything resembling true faith and belief. They must be prepared to “pay the price,” whatever that might be. In some cases, it might be profound, very profound. I suspect that not many find this to their liking. So, Dr. John Bruchalski’s statement “We don’t do enough”
seems accurate. However, I wonder how many would be willing, but they’re afraid to do so? Sometimes I think that if want to know what it was like for those first Christians in Rome we may well have a glimpse by what is transpiring in our contemporary society. Lord, have mercy! Oh, Lord, have mercy!
scooter says: I agree! You don’t regulate murder, you abolish it! Like my friend said, “Regulations only prune the abortion weed and make it stronger” – Jason Troyer
wendy peckham says: We are discussing tactics, strategy, not the desire to end abortion. The little niggling details that Pro-Lifers are insisting on are a matter of wearing away the abortion license. Look at how anti-tobacco legislation has taken decades to make smoking illegal. Once the abortionists must concede that abortion is wrong in degrees, the ground starts shifting away from under their feet. It is bizarre, yes, to be so concerned that sites where women cooperate in the slaughter of their babies be kept clean and safe, but if the women concerned don’t want to acknowledge that that is what they are doing, the challenge remains to change their hearts and minds. Sonograms are making an impact and convincing women to keep their babies. ——Abortionists and abortion workers who repent and become pro-life is what we need, and they are unlikely to be turned by hate. —-Are we justified in reviling abortionists? Yes! Does it serve to end abortion? Probably not. What would impress people in our culture would be more movie stars and rock stars who champion the pro-life cause, because it’s all about bread and circuses these days.
donna yunker says: That’s what the catholics are trying to to do but are pushed back with every step, so we have to take baby steps to reach our goal. Every good catholic knows life begins at conception and abortion is murder. If any movie star believed this they keep their mouth because they wouldn’t work much and money is better than to stand up for what is right.
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